Lord Rises At Eden

Shardul Thakur smashed his way to a half-century to power Kolkata Knight Riders to an emphatic 81-run win against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, April 6, 2023.

• Scorecard

Put into bat, KKR were reeling on 89/5 before Thakur led a superb recovery with a counter-attacking 29-ball 68 to rally his team to 204/7.

Coming in at No 7, Thakur slammed the joint-fastest fifty of IPL 2023, from just 20 balls as he put on an entertaining 103-run stand for the sixth wicket off 47 balls with Rinku Singh (46 off 33).

Shardul, who is fondly referred to as 'Lord Shardul' by fans, also picked up a wicket with the ball to bag the player of the match award.

Glimpses from Shardul's match-winning show:

Photographs: BCCI/IPL

• IPL 2023